by Andy Powell
This may well be an incomplete list, but Discs certainly exist of the following:
Top Of The Pops #347
Tracks: Blind Eye / Lullaby
Note: These tracks were two of the three recorded for Sounds Of The 70s on April 21 1971. Keith Skues, rather than Brian Matthew, presented this episode. Other artists on the disc are Richard Barnes, Osibisa, Julie Felix, Curved Air, and The Sweet.
Top Of The Pops #353
(BBC Transcription Services 128418)
Track: The Pilgrim
Note: This track was originally from the July 5 1971 Top Gear session. Other artists in the episode are The Hollies, Barclay James Harvest, Family, Bronco, and Rory Gallagher.
Top Of The Pops #367
(BBC Transcription Services 129474-S)
Track: Jail Bait
Note: This is from the October 18 1971 Sounds Of The Seventies session. Other artists on the disc include The Move, Mary Hopkin, and Peter Sarstedt. The original session was recorded at a Transcription Service studio and both the producer, Pete Dauncey, and his engineer were dedicated Transcription Service employees. Online sources suggest that another TS Disc exists with the same catalogue number, 367, with all three tracks from the session on one side.
Top Of The Pops #391
Track: Warrior / The King Will Come
Note: This was two tracks from the band’s Top Gear session on April 18 1972. Other artists on the episode were Paul Jones, The Strawbs, and The Johnstons.
Top Of The Pops #397
Tracks: Blowin’ Free / Throw Down The Sword
Note: This episode/disc information is problematic: the notes with the disc say both tracks were recorded for Top Gear on April 18 1972. Ken Garner’s research lists only ‘Blowin’ Free’, of those two titles, as having been recorded for that session. Conceivably, ‘Throw Down The Sword’ was recorded for it but not broadcast on Top Gear. Alternatively, the disc notes could be in error, with ‘Blowin’ Free’ deriving from the May 31 1972 Sounds Of The 70s session plus ‘Throw Down The Sword’ from the May 10 session. That accreditation would fit with the information attributed to the versions on the Live At The BBC CD—although exactly where that information came from is unclear. Other artists this episode were Plainsong, David Bowie, and The Move.
In Concert 1972 #18
(BBC-TS CN 1552/S)
Tracks: Time Was / Blowin’ Free / Warrior / Throw Down The Sword / The King Will Come / Phoenix
Note: The oft-repeated May 25 1972 Paris Theatre recording.
In Concert 1977
Tracks: Blind Eye / Lady Whiskey / Warrior / Throw Down The Sword / Front Page News / Goodbye Baby, Hello Friend / Come In From The Rain / Phoenix / Blowin’ Free
Note: This is the mysterious October 17 1977 Glasgow Apollo show with the Brian Matthew introduction (see above). One presumes this must exist on Transcription Disc, although it’s not in the archive.
In Concert 1978 #187
(BBC-TS CN 3214/S)
Tracks: The King Will Come / You See Red / Front Page News / The Way Of The World / Phoenix / Anger In Harmony / Queen Of Torture / Blowin’ Free
Note: The Hammersmith Odeon concert from October 25 1978. Online sources suggest there were two versions of this show syndicated, on Transcription Disc, to stations in the USA. One, titled In Concert, was the 58:18 content above, which is exactly the same as the UK FM broadcast.
BBC Rock Hour 1978
The King Will Come / Warrior / Errors Of My Way / You See Red / F.U.B.B. / Front Page News / The Way Of The World / Phoenix / Anger In Harmony / Time Was / Runaway / Lady Whiskey / Jail Bait / Queen Of Torture / Blowin’ Free
Note: This is an alternative (longer) syndicated version of the Hammersmith show above. It adds ‘Warrior’, ‘Errors Of My Way’, ‘F.U.B.B.’, ‘Time Was’, ‘Runaway’, and ‘Lady Whiskey’.
In Concert 1980
Tracks: Doctor / Blind Eye / The Way Of The World / Insomnia / Queen Of Torture / Lifeline / Blowin’ Free / Living Proof / Helpless / Jail Bait
Note: This 58:39 US syndicated version of the February 2 1980 Hammersmith concert differs from the UK FM broadcast version by adding ‘The Way Of The World’ and ‘Queen Of Torture’ and excluding ‘Bad Weather Blues’.
In Concert 1981
Tracks: Lady Whiskey / Living Proof / Underground / Warrior / Kicks On The Street / Phoenix / Number The Brave / Helpless
Note: A version of the June 2 1981 Hammersmith show that’s different to the UK FM broadcast. It adds ‘Phoenix’, ‘Number The Brave’, and ‘Helpless’, while excluding ‘The King Will Come’, ‘Where Is The Love?’, ‘Loaded’, ‘Blowin’ Free’, and ‘Get Ready’.
BBC Rock Hour 1982
Tracks: Lady Whiskey / Living Proof / Underground / Warrior / Kicks On The Street / Phoenix / Number The Brave / Helpless
Note: This has exactly the same tracks as the above In Concert, having presumably been repackaged for a US syndicated series called BBC Rock Hour.
In Concert 1988
Tracks: Tangible Evidence / Living Proof / No More Lonely Nights / The King Will Come / Throw Down The Sword / In The Skin / Clousseau / Phoenix / Blowin’ Free / Jail Bait
Note: This is the US syndication version of the March 4 1988 Hammersmith Odeon show, different to the UK FM broadcast.
Bootlegs of BBC Broadcasts
There are several Wishbone Ash ‘Recordings Of Independent Origin’ CDs/download albums that feature BBC material. This may not be all of the bootleg CDs out there, but it’s a start.
Ted’s Last Gig
Tracks: Ballad Of the Beacon / Sometime World / Rock’n’Roll Widow / Blowin’ Free / Jail Bait / Time Was / Phoenix
Note: Taken from the Radio 1 FM broadcast of the Paris Theatre concert on February 23 1974. This show doesn’t survive at source, neither on tape nor Transcription Disc. It was, indeed, Ted’s last gig with the band—until the 1988 reunion, of course.
Live In London 1978
Tracks: The King Will Come / You See Red / Front Page News / The Way Of The World / Phoenix / Anger & Harmony / Queen Of Torture / Blowin’ Free
Note: Taken from the BBC Transcription Disc of the November 25 1978 concert at Hammersmith Odeon.
Hammersmith Odeon 1978
Tracks: The King Will Come / Warrior / Errors Of My Way / You See Red / F.U.B.B. / Front Page News / The Way Of The World / Phoenix / Anger & Harmony / Time Was / Runaway / Lady Whiskey / Jail Bait / Queen of Torture / Blowin’ Free / Bad Weather Blues
Note: This is a 2CD bootleg containing probably the full set of the above show. The track list is identical to the US BBC Rock Hour Transcription Disc(s).
Glasgow 1977
Tracks: Blind Eye / Lady Whiskey / Warrior / Throw Down The Sword / Front Page News / Goodbye Baby, Hello Friend / Come In From The Rain / Phoenix / Blowin’ Free / [Sometime World]
Note: This is taken from the hard-to-pin-down broadcast or Transcription Disc, with Brian Matthew’s introduction. It omits ‘Sometime World’ as it appears on the official 4CD Distillation (Repertoire, 1997).
In Concert 1980 and also Live In London 1980
Tracks: Doctor / Blind Eye / The Way Of The World / Insomnia /Queen Of Torture / Lifeline / Living Proof / Blowin’ Free / Helpless / Jail Bait
Note: The February 2 1980 Hammersmith Odeon concert, from the 58:39 Transcription Disc version.
Hammersmith Odeon 1981 and also Playing Free
Tracks: Where Is The Love? / Living Proof / Underground / Warrior / Kicks On The Street / Phoenix / Number The Brave / Helpless / Blowin’ Free / Get Ready / The King Will Come
Note: From the June 2 1981 Hammersmith Odeon concert. At seventy-five minutes long, this is probably a combination of tracks from the UK FM broadcast and the Transcription Discs. It omits ‘Lady Whiskey’, which is contained on the two identical BBC Transcription Discs (In Concert 1981 and BBC Rock Hour 1982) and was also on the UK FM broadcast. At 2:45 it was the shortest track in the set. Maybe the bootleg compiler just didn’
t like it?
Lady Whiskey
Tracks: Lady Whiskey / Underground / Warrior / Kicks On The Streets / Phoenix / Number the Brave / Helpless
Note: This is a 50 minute selection from the June 2 1981 Hammersmith concert. It mirrors the two Transcription Discs for US syndication, save that it omits ‘Living Proof’.
Wishbone Ash At The Hammersmith Odeon
Tracks: Living Proof / Genevieve / The King Will Come / Clousseau / Jail Bait / Phoenix / Blowin’ Free / Bad Weather Blues
Note: This is a version of the March 4 1988 Hammersmith Odeon concert, different to the UK broadcast version by the addition of ‘Clousseau’ and with ‘In The Skin’, omitted by virtue of its having been included on the official CD Tracks (Talking Elephant, 2002). Who says bootleggers don’t care?
Magic Night At The Hammersmith Odeon
Tracks: Tangible Evidence / Living Proof / Genevieve / No More Lonely Nights / The King Will Come / Throw Down The Sword / Clousseau / In The Skin / Phoenix / Blowin’ Free / Jail Bait
Note: This is another version of the above Hammersmith show. It mirrors the US syndication Transcription Disc save that it adds ‘Phoenix’ between ‘In The Skin’ and ‘Blowin’ Free’. Presumably, the bootleg derives from the Transcription Disc plus ‘Phoenix’ taken from the UK FM broadcast. One also presumes they ran out of room to add the only other FM-only track, ‘Bad Weather Blues’.
APPENDIX 2
SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY
BY COLIN HARPER
As you might imagine, having been a band for forty-five years, with product released in many territories, on several labels, and then repackaged in various ways including variations of sleeve design, content and even title, the Wishbone Ash discography is a complicated beast. Some years ago Andy collaborated with some serious Ash fans on The Illustrated Collector’s Guide To Wishbone Ash, and since then numerous discographical resources have appeared online. What we’ve done here is boil the discography down to the essential elements:
• the core studio albums
• the core live albums (those released as ‘current’ product by the band)
• retrospective releases, including selected compilations featuring significant exclusive content and those live albums which fall into the category of being archive releases
• miscellaneous releases featuring Andy (guest appearances and side projects).
We’ve added a line or two of information for many of the albums, indicating first and most recent CD reissues, recent heavyweight-vinyl reissues, and the odd other variation in between that might be of interest. Ash fan and serious collector Rainer Frilund very kindly looked over the work and provided several additional bits of information and corrections. Hopefully, this discography will help casual fans and newcomers to make sense of what’s out there. Luckily, a great deal of the band’s key releases are, at the time of writing, readily available somewhere in the world (usually the UK, USA, France, or Japan) and hence readily available via worldwide online retailers—or, in the case of a fair selection of items, at the merchandise stall at a Wishbone Ash concert. Every album up to 1991’s Strange Affair appeared first on vinyl LP; after that, CD was the preferred medium. The band’s most recent two studio albums at the time of writing, Elegant Stealth and Blue Horizon, have appeared near-simultaneously on CD, download, and as 180-gram vinyl.
So who’s on that one, then?
There have been twelve record-making versions of Wishbone Ash. There may well have been intermediate line-ups in between, but let’s keep it simple! The information below only includes the two guitars, bass, and drums line-up of the band proper at any given time. There have often been guest musicians—keyboards, percussion, violin, backing vocals, and so on—on albums, but purely for clarity, and meaning no disrespect to those wonderful players, what follows below is the core line-up of the band and the span during which they made records:
Wishbone Ash Mk I (1970–74): Andy Powell; Ted Turner; Martin Turner; Steve Upton
Wishbone Ash Mk II (1974–80): Andy Powell; Laurie Wisefield; Martin Turner; Steve Upton
Wishbone Ash Mk III (1981): Andy Powell; Laurie Wisefield; John Wetton; Steve Upton
Wishbone Ash Mk IV (1982): Andy Powell; Laurie Wisefield; Trevor Bolder; Steve Upton
Wishbone Ash Mk V (1984): Andy Powell; Laurie Wisefield; Mervyn Spence; Steve Upton
Wishbone Ash Mk I (reunion) (1987–89): Andy Powell; Ted Turner; Martin Turner; Steve Upton
Wishbone Ash Mk VI (1991): Andy Powell; Ted Turner; Martin Turner; Robbie France/Ray Weston
Wishbone Ash Mk VII (1992): Andy Powell; Ted Turner; Andy Pyle; Ray Weston
Wishbone Ash Mk VIII (1995–96): Andy Powell; Roger Filgate; Tony Kishman; Mike Sturgis
Wishbone Ash Mk IX (1997–2001): Andy Powell; Mark Birch; Bob Skeat; Ray Weston
Wishbone Ash Mk X (2002–04): Andy Powell; Ben Granfelt; Bob Skeat; Ray Weston
Wishbone Ash Mk XI (2006): Andy Powell; Muddy Manninen; Bob Skeat; Ray Weston
Wishbone Ash Mk XII (2007–present): Andy Powell; Muddy Manninen; Bob Skeat; Joe Crabtree
Studio Albums
Wishbone Ash (MCA, 1970)
Blind Eye / Lady Whisky / Errors Of My Way / Queen Of Torture / Handy / Phoenix
Producer: Derek Lawrence
Personnel: Wishbone Ash Mk I
First released on CD in 1992, in Japan. The most recent CD edition is a 2010 MCA/Geffen SHM-CD, also in Japan. In 2007, Talking Elephant released First Light, effectively a demo run through of this first album retrieved from the sole surviving acetate. It features early versions of all the eventual first LP tracks except for ‘Phoenix’ but includes three other tracks: ‘Roads Of Day To Day’, ‘Joshua’, and ‘Alone’, the last of which would be resurrected for the band’s second album, albeit as an instrumental.
Pilgrimage (MCA, 1971)
Vas Dis / The Pilgrim / Jail Bait / Alone / Lullaby / Valediction / Where Were You Tomorrow (Live)
Producer: Derek Lawrence
Personnel: Wishbone Ash Mk I
First released on CD in 1987, in the UK, with the addition of a live ‘Jail Bait’ (from the Live From Memphis 1972 US promotional LP). The most recent CD edition is a 2010 remaster on SHM-CD, on MCA/Geffen in Japan, featuring the original track list.
Argus (MCA, 1972)
Time Was / Sometime World / Blowin’ Free / The King Will Come / Leaf And Stream / Warrior / Throw Down The Sword
Producer: Derek Lawrence
Personnel: Wishbone Ash Mk I
First released on CD in 1991, in Japan, with the addition of the single A-side ‘No Easy Road’. In 2002 MCA US released Argus: Expanded Edition—Remastered & Revisited, which was in fact a remix by Martin Turner with the addition of all three tracks from the US promo LP Live From Memphis: ‘Jail Bait’, ‘The Pilgrim’, and ‘Phoenix’. In 2007 Universal UK/Europe released a 2CD Argus: Deluxe Edition featuring a remaster of the original LP mix plus two of the three Live From Memphis tracks (‘The Pilgrim’ and ‘Phoenix’), the ‘No Easy Road’ single A-side, a BBC Radio In Concert from 1972 and two further BBC Radio session tracks from 1972. The most recent editions of Argus are a 2010 SHM-CD version of the 2CD Deluxe Edition and a 2010 single CD SHM-SACD, both from Japan, on MCA/Island and Geffen respectively. A 2010 180-gram vinyl edition is also available from Universal US.
Wishbone Four (MCA, 1973)
So Many Things To Say / Ballad Of The Beacon / No Easy Road / Everybody Needs A Friend / Doctor / Sorrel / Sing Out The Song / Rock ‘N’ Roll Widow
Producer: Wishbone Ash
Personnel: Wishbone Ash Mk I
First released on CD in 1991, in the UK. The most recent CD edition is an SHM-CD on MCA/Geffen in Japan, 2010.
There’s The Rub (MCA, 1974)
Silver Shoes / Don’t Come Back / Persephone / Hometown / Lady Jay / F.U.B.B.
Producer: Bill Szymczyk
Personnel: Wishbone Ash Mk II
First released on CD in 1992, in Germa
ny. The most recent CD edition is an SHM-CD on MCA in Japan, 2010.
Locked In (Atlantic, 1975)
Rest In Peace / No Water In The Well / Moonshine / She Was My Best Friend / It Started In Heaven / Half Past Lovin’ / Trust In You / Say Goodbye
Producer: Tom Dowd
Personnel: Wishbone Ash Mk II
First released on CD in 1995, in Germany. The most recent CD edition is an SHM-CD on MCA/Geffen in Japan, 2010.
New England (MCA, 1976)
Mother Of Pearl / (In All Of My Dreams) You Rescue Me / Runaway / Lorelei / Outward Bound / Prelude / When You Know Love / Lonely Island / Candlelight
Producer: Howard Albert & Ron Albert
Personnel: Wishbone Ash Mk II
First released on CD by BGO in 1998 as a two-on-one with Front Page News. Also released as a two-on-one with Locked In by Wounded Bird in the US in 2005. The most recent CD version is an MCA/Geffen SHM-CD from Japan, 2010—unshackled with anything else, for a change.
Front Page News (MCA, 1977)
Front Page News / Midnight Dancer / Goodbye Baby Hello Friend / Surface To Air / 714 / Come In From The Rain / Right Or Wrong / Heart Beat / The Day I Found Your Love / Diamond Jack
Producer: Howard Albert & Ron Albert
Personnel: Wishbone Ash Mk II
First released on CD in 1994, in Germany. The most recent CD edition is an SHM-CD on MCA/Geffen in Japan, 2010.
No Smoke Without Fire (MCA, 1978)
You See Red / Baby The Angels Are Here / Ships In The Sky / Stand And Deliver / Anger In Harmony / Like A Child / The Way Of The World (Part 1) / The Way Of The World (Part 2)
Producer: Derek Lawrence
Personnel: Wishbone Ash Mk II
Originally issued in the UK with a free single: ‘Come In From The Rain’ b/w ‘Lorelei’. Currently available on MCA/Geffen SHM-CD, Japan, 2010, with the single sides added as bonus tracks plus two outtakes and another B-side: ‘Firesign’, ‘Time And Space (Remix)’, and ‘Bad Weather Blues (Live)’.
